September 1, 2023

*) AU suspends membership as Gabon’s general to be sworn in as president General Brice Oligui Nguema will be sworn in as transitional president of Gabon on Monday, the army has said. The coup overthrew the 55-year Bongo dynasty, which had ruled the country since independence from France in 1960. The opposition has called for its candidate to be recognised as the winner of weekend elections, which were disputed by the government. The African Union has condemned the coup and suspended Gabon from its activities. *) Ecuador jail inmates take dozens hostage Prisoners at a penitentiary in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca are holding hostage 50 guards and seven police officers, Interior Minister Juan Zapata has said. The mass hostage-taking came a day after hundreds of soldiers and police officers carried out an operation to search for weapons, ammunition, and explosives in one of the country's main penitentiaries in the Andean city of Latacunga in the south. The nation's prisons office said earlier in the day that the hostage-taking was a reprisal for that operation, but authorities later said it was in protest at the transfer of inmates to other prisons. *) US cracks down on unlicensed gun sellers amid mass shootings The Biden administration is making it harder for people to sell guns without a license and background checks. The Justice Department released rules to follow the Safer Communities Act, passed by Congress in June 2022 in response to mass shootings. The rules will close loopholes that let people sell guns without a license by claiming not to make money from transactions or by saying their lack of a storefront or insignificant sales volume exempts them from dealer requirements. It also tightens the rules on collectors who buy and sell guns, and on failed gun dealers selling their inventories. *) Pope visits Mongolia as Vatican ties with China, Russia remain strained Pope Francis visits Mongolia, a Buddhist country with just 1,450 Catholics, in hopes of improving relations with China. The 86-year